As omicron throws sports back into chaos, be smart and get boosted
Oh no, omicron.
Thanks to the omicron variant, COVID chaos is back. Ohio State and UCLA opted out of last weekend’s CBS Sports Classic because of COVID problems. Louisville pulled out of Wednesday night’s game with Kentucky because of coronavirus issues. As of Tuesday morning, 17 college basketball games scheduled for that day had either been postponed or canceled altogether.
College hoops is not alone, of course. If you didn’t notice, there were not one but two NFL games on Monday. The Las Vegas Raiders beat the Cleveland Browns 16-14 in a game pushed back a day because of COVID in the Browns’ camp. There were two NFL games scheduled for Tuesday — yes, Tuesday — as the result of positive COVID tests racing through the league.
The NBA is experiencing similar problems. One game was postponed Monday, another on Tuesday. And the NHL is halting its schedule on Wednesday with a tentative resume date set for Monday, Dec. 27. As to whether the upcoming glut of college football bowl games, including Kentucky’s Jan. 1 date with Iowa in the Citrus Bowl, that’s anybody’s guess.
There are silver linings. Kudos to coaches John Calipari and Rick Stansbury for putting together Wednesday night’s Kentucky-Western Kentucky basketball matchup on short notice after Louisville was forced to pull out. Even better is that Wednesday’s game at Rupp Arena will help benefit the Kentucky United Toy Drive for families in need after the devastating tornadoes of Dec. 10-11.
Omicron isn’t going away, however. Not anytime soon. Though the effects are believed to be mild among those vaccinated — especially those who have received a booster shot — the variant is highly transmissible. It’s putting a strain on medical personnel and hospitals. And there are predictions of a bigger wave coming.
Sports will have to adjust accordingly. Most college conferences made preseason announcements that there would be no postponements this season. If a team did not have enough healthy players to compete, it would have to forfeit. So far the leagues are sticking to that, though there are reports of internal discussions about altering the policy.
COVID-19 protocols are forcing Boston College to forfeit its ACC game Wednesday at Wake Forest. In the Big East on Monday night, Seton Hall was forced to forfeit to St. John’s and DePaul was forced to forfeit to Creighton because of COVID issues in those programs. And the league has already announced DePaul will forfeit Thursday’s scheduled game against Seton Hall, which is now 1-1 without playing a game.
DePaul Athletic Director DeWayne Peevy served as Mitch Barnhart’s deputy AD before heading to Chicago last August. He tweeted Monday that the Blue Demons who tested positive had either mild or no symptoms. Still, under league guidelines adopted before the season, the team did not have the minimum number of players to compete.
Tweeted Peevy, “The current Big East forfeit policy was put in place and was supported during a different phase of the pandemic and we will do everything possible to rescind the two losses.”
That dilemma faces all sports. What if players test positive but show no symptoms? The NFL changed its forfeit policy when players complained about the looming loss of game checks. After over 100 players tested positive last week, the league changed its testing policy. Vaccinated players without symptoms will no longer be tested weekly. The new policy isn’t going to stop COVID, not when asymptomatic cases can still spread the virus. What it will do is increase the odds that games are played on time.
What we do know is we won’t see the shutdowns and restricted attendance requirements of 2020. The entities involved are not about to take that financial hit again. And we did not have the mitigation methods then that we have now.
COVID is not going away. Not anytime soon. More variants are likely to arrive on the scene. We need to help our health-care system, protect the vulnerable, and make smart decisions. Get vaccinated. Get the booster. The sooner the better.
